produced by associated producer

Not being a number to be free to embody a number to be unique

A FILM BY

PRESS BOOK The official documentary about the life of Gabriel Omar Batistuta

produced by associated producer Synopsis

It’s the story of Batistuta’s life and his whole career. Among the pages The official documentary of this narrative, Gabriel himself will accompany the viewer along the main theme, permeated with memories and anecdotes never revealed about the life of before. An intimate picture, a sincere gaze willing to shed light on every secret, every background needed to discover even more deeply the characters of his person, of the man who has always been hidden behind Gabriel Omar a memorable number 9 for all. Batistuta

Not being a number to be free, to embody a number to be unique ... be- cause this is Batistuta. It will be his “voice” to tell us, finally, what he was willing to do to become the champion everyone knows today. The sacrifices and perseverance that led him to win with the clubs and the Albiceleste, the stubbornness to rise again after every defeat thanks to the affections of those who supported him over these years. The importance of his wife, his children and friends on and off the field. And again, his choices, , , Rome and a tenacity that almost compromised his own health.

PRESS book 05 Synopsis

Between the lines of these pages, a ball that rolls across frontiers, wi- thout walls or age, captivating adults and children in every corner of the earth. There will be plenty of his sporting accomplishments and goals that have enchanted the world, a story in pictures of a simple man who has made out of his values, his greatest victory: “Once I said I didn’t like football. But I did it only to protect myself, to ease the pressure from the Fotocronache Germogli press and the fans. It was a lie. Fotocronache Germogli

As a child I preferred to do something else, it’s true, but then growing, fo- otball became my passion and my job. As a matter of fact I love everything about football, tactics, training and games. I got to the point of compro- mising my health for this. I don’t think we need to add anything else”.

06 PRESS BOOK Cast Gabriel Omar Irina Batistuta Fernandez

experience far from South America, participating in the Viareggio Tournament. Thus began a golden period for the bomber, Champion of Argentina with the Club Atlético River Plate (1989/90) and then (1990/91) in just 24 months, until the transfer to the maxi- mum European championship of those years, the Italian Series A. It was the summer of 1991, when Gabriel and Irina moved to Florence, a city that welcomed them both with open arms. In the Tuscan capital Batistuta remains for 9 intense years, with the purple jersey he will win an Italian Cup (1995/96) and an Italian Super Cup (1996/97). Despite the great love between him and the city, Gabriel He was born in Avellaneda on the 1st of February 1969, decides to move to Rome to finally conquer the much Born in the province of Santa Fe on 09/26/1970, Irina to Osmar Batistuta, a butcher, and Gloria Zilli, a school desired Scudetto (2000/01). He will also conquer his Adelaida Fernandez lived between Italy and Argentina secretary. At the age of six, the Batistuta family moved second Italian Super Cup with the Giallorossi jersey for many years. to Reconquista, where Gabriel lived with his parents and (2001/02). Finally, “Batigol” will have a brief spell at Inter, his three younger sisters. He grows up attending school before ending his career in , at the Al Arabi Sports She met Gabriel in September 1986, during the cele- with good results, while practicing many sports including Club. During his career, the champion wore the shirt of bration for her 15th birthday, a day that is traditionally football which, although it may seem strange, is not his the Argentina National team 77 times, winning two Ame- celebrated in Argentina as the Quinceañera. It was that favorite sport at all. On September 26 1986, at the age rica’s Cups (1990/91 - 1992/93) and a Confederations day that Batistuta, barely 17 years old, realized that he of 17, he met Irina Fernández, the love of his life, whom Cup (1992) with the Albiceleste. Still today, he holds was facing what would be the woman of his life. he married on December 28 1990, and with whom he the record of having made two triplets in two different had four children: Thiago, Lucas, Joaquín and Shamel. world championships; despite these successes, one of Since that moment they have never left each other, and Gabriel meets football later, he has already turned 16 the greatest regrets of the “Lion King” is that he never the great love Gabriel has for her is remembered by when, to participate in the scholastic branch offices, managed to give a World Cup to his Argentina. all with the famous dedication that the player gave her he enrolls in the soccer team because of the most Today Gabriel participates in many sporting events, not in the summer of 1996 when, on the pitch, during the skilled companions in the disciplines of volleyball and limited to football but also cultivating a passion for Golf, Supercup final against , after making the decisive basketball. a sport that allows him to meet old friends and compa- goal, he shouted to the cameras of the whole world his The Argentine’s first amateur training is called Grupo nions. Currently, Batistuta has decided to tell his story love: “Te amo, Irina! I love you!”… Alegria, the future champion then passes into the youth through a documentary film, a biopic that tells his life of Platense, where he remains for two years before he and wants to be a message for the younger genera- was called into the Newell’s Old Boys, thanks to the tions, demonstrating how sacrifice, willpower, perse- intuition of Jorge Griffa who finally discovers the talent verance and a good dose of courage can become the of Batistuta. In February 1989, Batistuta lived his first fundamental ingredients to make dreams come true.

PRESS BOOK 09 Producer’s Statement

I was a boy when during my teenage years, in Florence, met the gaze of one of my peers. That boy came from Reconquista and his name was . That boy with blond hair and as scared as his talent, was born in the hot and dry Argentina, the same land where my mother gave birth to me. I re-embraced Italy very soon, he a little less, but the memory of his arrival on the banks of the Arno in the early 1990s is still indelible. Just like so many others, I was enchanted by what they said and what they told about him ... it was a unique story right from the start, a story that could one day be told. I started to dream watching him play with the purple shirt on him, while he was running in the middle of the field and kicking in the goal area. Those balls turned like the wheel of time, so, while I followed my entrepreneurial path, he enchanted the world by breaking records and football goals, making people talk about him in every stadium he crossed. I continued to follow him, always, on the radio and on television, until one day our paths meet again in a way that has never been experienced before. So here we are today, a dawn that has revealed to the eyes of both a new parenthesis of life, a new path, this time really side by side. I, the producer and the actor of this adventure, of a film strongly wanted by the Batistuta Marco Saverio Alessandro Mazzinghi himself, that I had the honor and the privilege of guiding CEO SenseMedia Srl thanks above all to the professionalism of our crew, of an intimate and close team capable of capturing the true has pervaded both me and the director Pablo Benedetti, essence of this project: a documentary able to tell the author of the input that triggered the creativity of this man who exists beyond the champion, his values, his project. Spanning these emotions, we have traveled perseverance and all the difficulties he has had to face through lands, oceans, stadiums and personalities of thi- to become what today everyone knows as “Batigol” or, ckness, taking with us every single bit that was capable better still, as the “ Lion King”. and worthy of giving the public the authentic taste of a The cinema is a world as spectacular as it is difficult, but story that, from the first moment I indirectly lived, I reali- the strength of mind spun by the protagonist of this story zed it was worth being listened to in depth.

PRESS BOOK 11 Director’s Statement

This is a project that the champion himself has wanted and where he is the main character. This huge privilege allows the story to reveal and tell each detail, each secret and taboo by the character himself. The audience will have the possibility of closely observing beyond the door of Batistuta’s house, a unique, vivid and sincere world. A big cham- pion, husband, father, son and friend.

The goals and the most relevant images on the field will be included, a Benedetta Alterini e Francesca Fusari story that will present a personal memories archive. A pleasing intimate situation that creates a cross-section between the sports life and the personal life of a goleador well known and loved for his records, for his sporting achievements but most of all for his disarming simplicity.

And then Argentina, a vastness of space and colors that fills up your eyes. Miles of asphalt that rolls out straight in the middle of the plain. The limpid waters of the Parana that pour minerals and sands coming into the ocean from the heart of the continent. These are the places whe- re the story will take place. Places that framed Batistuta’s adolescence. And then , soccer professionalism and the European stage, Florence and the successes of Rome and the end of a career full of goals and applauses.

The end of a career but the beginning of a new life dedicated to the family, to the children and to a project in the pocket that started to be too cumbersome and noisy to not listen to it.

Technically the camera will follow Gabriel as in one sort of mental jour- ney, like in a typical documentary, we will have the opportunity to go with him into the various places of his history. All through a present memory. The time frame is one memory, a moment that lasts throughout our story and which ends with the idea of what tomorrow will bring.

12 PRESS BOOK Pablo Benedetti Director

Born in Italy in November 1977. Currently residing in the Tuscan capital, Florence. Married to Francesca, he has two daughters, Matilde and Olivia. After graduating from the “Master Course in art & technique of film-making” with final specialization in Directing, at the school sponsored by director Mike Leigh “London Film School”, he worked as a director, editor and operator in various short films and documentaries. In 2003 he begins his own journey with “Gota Roja”, directing the artist Lindsay Kemp, with whom he also collaborates over the years, a documentary film that tells the story of an artist considered fundamental to the evolution of theatrical language. This is followed Filmography - Director Producer by the direction of a second documentary based on the El numero nueve, Gabriel Batistuta - (doc.) 2019 fascinating world of the sea and apnea practice, with the Anja - feature film 2018/19 Ouija Séance: The Final Game (co-producer) 2018 participation of world champion Gianluca Genoni, “L’uomo Brotherhood - (Short) 2018 Operation Before Midnight (Short) 2015 Profondo” distributed by NatGeoAdventure - National Ge- One More Time - (feature film) 2013 ographic. During these years, together with his friend and Corazones de Mujer - (feature film) 2008 Fratelli di Sangue - (feature film) 2003 colleague Davide Sordella, he founded 011FILMS and pro- Bluemist l’uomo profondo - (documentary) 2004 GotaRoja: Lindsay Kemp - (documentary) 2003 duced the film “Fratelli di Sangue” (presented at the Venice Film Festival) with an impressive cast including Fabrizio Guerra Prize”, it participates in other international festivals Gifuni, Barbora Bobulova and Fabrizio Rongione. and is currently distributed by House of Film, a Los Ange- This film was released in theatrical, and also distributed on les-based agency. In 2018 he directed and produced his platform such as Sky and Medusa Home video. In 2008 new feature film, Anja-Real Love Girl, a psychological thriller Pablo decided to create the pseudonym K.Kosoof together in the same style line of “Man without sleep”. Works in colla- with Davide Sordella, thus producing / directing “Cora- boration with Paolo Martini. In 2019 he directed “Brotherho- zones de Mujer”; A brilliant comedy about the true story od” with Francesco Montanari and Vinicio Marchioni, a of a tailor of Moroccan origin who settled in Italy. The film small fashion film for Kawasaki in collaboration with Riders enchants the Berlin Festival, Cannes and finds international magazine, produced by SenseMedia srl. He is currently distribution in the cinema (Movimento Film and Adriana directing the sports film about Gabriel Batistuta’s life story, Chiesa Enterprise), Medusa home videos and other digital and a series of 4 episodes for Ducati. He is also preparing platforms and Tv release. Then it’s the time of the third a new feature film inspired by the world of boxing and inte- feature film in 2011 shot in O“ ne More Time” with the gration. He then continues his experience and also directs participation of the extraordinary Lucìa Bosè and co-star- / produces commercials, Viral Videos and Videoclips for: ring the gold bear in Berlin Magaly Solier. The film wins the Diadora, U-Boat, Luisa Via Roma, Tucano Urbano, Best Screenplay Award at the San Marino Festival “Tonino Frescobaldi, Acea, Enegan and for the Italian Ministry.

PRESS BOOK 15 “Non esiste né esisterà un altro come Batistuta, il miglior 9 dell’Argentina. In Italia spaccava le difese. Lo conosco bene, non solo per la Seleccion, è una persona adorabile”

DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA

“Era un’esplosione di rabbia, di voglia, di forza. Il più delle volte con lui non c’era niente da fare...”

SANDRO MAZZOLA

“E’ il più forte compagno di squadra che abbia mai avuto. Ha fatto la storia del calcio...”

FRANCESCO TOTTI

“Ho avuto molti giocatori in quel ruolo, ma lui è senza dubbio il migliore che abbia mai allenato, è sicuramente uno che contribuisce a far vincere la squadra”

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI

“Una cosa era averlo davanti come avversario, un’altra ancora come compagno di squadra, sapere che quando riceveva la palla poteva succedere qualsiasi cosa... era letale”

JAVIER ZANETTI Producer Marco Saverio Alessandro Mazzinghi

Director Pablo Benedetti

Director Of Photography Niccolò Francolini

Editor Alessio Focardi

Music Silvia Nair Alabianca Group produced by

Genre Documentary Sports/Drama

Language Spanish/Italian

Running time associated producer 90’

Subtitles English/Italian

Year 2019

Country of Origin with support of Italy

Aspect ratio 1:2,35

Mail [email protected] [email protected]

Official website elnumeronueve.com

Official Facebook facebook.com/elnumero9batistuta

Official Instagram instagram.com/elnumero9batistuta @elnumero9batistuta #elnumeronueve Not being a number to be free to embody a number to be unique

A FILM BY

The official documentary about the life of Gabriel Omar Batistuta

produced by associated producer